Thoughts of a Hero
by ChattyLampshade
Summary: The Hero of Time reflects upon his past, present, and future. Post OoT Oneshot


**Thank you for reading my fanfic. It's not very lon****g, and it's my first oneshot, so it's not THAT good, but everyone needs practice, right? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the game in any way, though I wish I did that I wouldn't have to write these boring disclaimers.**

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The Hero of Time.

To most people in Hyrule, those words would never be forgotten. They would forever give a feeling of hope and the power to endure even the darkest of despairs to whoever speaking them. They also had a legend tied to them, and that legend would be told from generation to generation, the wind would whisper it to the trees of the Lost Woods, the water of Lake Hylia would sing it to the sky, until the legend _became _Hyrule.

But to him, it meant nothing. Nothing but loss.

He was Link, the Hero of Time himself. He had started out as a "the kid without a fairy" among the Kokiris. Then one day, a fairy had finally come to him - a fairy named Navi. Together, they had embarked on a journey to stop the evil king Ganondorf. As the child he had been, he hadn't had an idea of what really was going on. But along the way, he had learned a lot of things… he had met Princess Zelda, he had traveled seven years into the future, into the body of his future, adult self, he had discovered that he wasn't a Kokiri, but a Hylian… and he had defeated the evil king…

And now, it all was over.

His reward for saving the kingdom of Hyrule had been being sent back to his original time. He was a child again. But not the child he had been before his adventures. Nothing would ever be the same for him. Hyrule and its citizens were celebrating its liberation from the darkness that had been tormenting them, but he, the one that had saved them, just felt doomed. Yes, he had learned so much… but he had also lost so much.

Princess Zelda had sent him back to his own time in order to help him regain his lost childhood, but it was his adulthood he now missed. Most of his memories from his adventure didn't come from his past, but his future, and that just felt so strange. When he had put the Master Sword to rest in its pedestal and sealed the Door of Time, he had lost a part of himself. These memories… it was like they didn't belong to him, they belonged to his future self. It was almost ironic, because when he had been an adult, he had constantly wanted to go back to being a child, because he knew that he actually wasn't an adult, just a kid that had been sent seven years into the future. He had been longing for his carefree childhood, without any worlds to save. But he hadn't realized that he never could go back to that.

_Nothing would ever be the same._

And he had no home. He wasn't a Kokiri, so he couldn't go back to the village. He didn't belong there. Seeing the other stay as ten year olds when he aged more and more… he couldn't stand that. Not even Saria would be there. There would be no Ganondorf to seal the Sages, so she would already have awakened as the Sage of Forest. She would be in the Sacred Realm, not in Kokiri Forest to stay as his best friend. There was no reason for him to return to the place he used to call his home, because it wasn't his home anymore, and it would never be. But neither could he live in Hyrule Market with the other Hylians. He hadn't any clear reasons why that was, other from the strong feeling that he didn't belong there either. It was an impossible choice. And he couldn't think of any other places that could be his possible home.

He should be happy now that it all was over and all his fighting had come to an end, he should be happy over his victory. But it all just made him wish that nothing of it had started in the first place. During the quest itself, he had tried to lock away all of these depressing thoughts, he wouldn't have made it if he hadn't, he had needed to focus on saving the world. But now… he was free, in a way. Free to do whatever he wanted. He had no duties, no destiny to fulfill.

He should be happy. Yet he was not.

He was a new person now. He had changed. To the better? He didn't know. He admitted that he had done brave and good thing during his journey… but he couldn't help but wonder, what now? What would he do now? He didn't know, he had no clue, and he hated it.

_Nothing would ever be the same._ And he hated that fact even more.

He wanted, he wished, he had never wanted anything more than turning back time, once again, right now. He had never asked for this. Anything but this new future of uncertainty, of mist, would be better. He wanted to go back to those carefree days…

But of course, he knew that he couldn't, and shouldn't. This had all been for the best of Hyrule, for the best of the world, and sometimes, you had to make sacrifices. He knew that. He wasn't a selfish boy, he knew that the good of the people of Hyrule was more important than the good of himself. He knew that very well, he knew all about destiny and fate by now. Yet… Yet he wanted those days as "the kid without a fairy" back…

The word "fairy" made him think of another thing he had lost.

Navi… Navi, who had been by his side every second of his journey. Navi, his friend. Navi, who had left him in the Temple of Time without saying a single word. He hadn't thought much of her when she actually was there, she had taken her for granted, but now that she was gone, it was like a part of him had been ripped away from him. It felt very strange not to see her flying around him. She had been something that always had been there, someone who understood what he went through, someone who knew all about it. There were two persons like that, in fact: Navi and Princess Zelda. Both knew what had happened. Both knew how hard it all had been for him.

With that thought, a decision took shape. It was strange that it had come to him so suddenly. It seemed so simple, so obvious, that it almost was comical.

He had to meet them both. Immediately. He was so confused right now, he needed to talk to someone who could understand it. First, he would go to Princess Zelda, she was in her castle, maybe waiting for him. Then, he would start a new journey. A secret and personal journey, in search for his invaluable friend. He didn't know where he would go, but he would worry about that later.

He was a child with memories of an adult. He had crossed the borders of time, and that had caused him to lose who he actually was. He wasn't sure of anything right now, other than the fact that nothing would ever be he same.

But maybe, only maybe, he could create something new. A new life.

With that, he mounted his trusty Epona, and set course for the horizon


End file.
